How Lovely, These Feelings
by Kanthia
Summary: He's a hero born again, out to save the world. It still hurts. Short drabbles centered around the horrible thing known as the destiny of Link. [twilight princess]
1. Ganon: Despair

**This Feeling of Despair  
**_/Twilight, he found, was dangerously seductive._

**Word Count:** 363  
**Rating: **K+  
**Disclaimer:** Kanthia does not own any of the awesomeosity related to the Legend of Zelda series. She does have a Wii, but that's a moot point.  
**Pairing: **Implied Link x Zelda

**Kanthia notes:** Kanthia is not new to the series, but Twilight Princess is the first game that she's played alone instead of watching her brother from time to time. There's probably a lot in here that's wrong as far as canon is concerned, but like Asimov said- we're not here for a Biology lesson, but a story.

**Mild spoilers for early Twilight Princess.**

* * *

…How lovely it is, this feeling of despair.

You should know, boy. You've been this way so many times in the past. Back and back and back. No matter how many times you're reborn, boy, the shadow comes whispering in like a reflection of your own face- hmm? Can't you _feel _it, despair like a suffocating last breath? There are times when you can remember shades of what once was, aren't there?

Your soul is old, boy. It's something that has bothered you with a wordless and reasonless nothing. There is that lingering feeling of _been there, felt that_- but without the memories to hold it, you feel the sand run through your fingers like glass.

And you saw the Princess. You weren't yourself then- it's not the first time, boy, that your soul been changed by magic old as Time. It was last the brave fairy boy who took the sword given to you, yes- he grew old with it in his hands. I watched him with tears where I should have eyes, clinging to myself and screaming with the love in my lungs.

Oh, boy, you were born to feel this _fear_. This burning _despair_. It is your inherited will that keeps you alive- should you falter, block out the glaring twilight with your left hand and pray to it for protection.

Six times, boy. Six times you've felt this shadow and fought it back. Perhaps more- oh, I've lost count of the lovely feeling- and you felt it, didn't you. When the dark lady Midna took you to her Princess' court and the soft voice hurt your savage ears. She's been around as many times as you, boy. As many times as you. And every time she feels your despair in a different and more delicate way…so beautiful, this feeling of despair. It brings you together like a spark to tinder.

No matter how many times you're reborn- you'd rather swallow your own tongue than let the suffering escape your own chest, boy. I should know. I've watched you kill me time after time. I am the King of Darkness, boy- where I bring despair, you are sure to follow.

* * *

_Inspiration came to me, I believe, while hunting for Tears of Light in Kakariko Village. I'm not too great with being freaked out- but there was a point when despair settled at the base of my stomach, and it was a wonderful feeling._

_/end_


	2. Midna: Silence

**This Sound of Silence  
**_/Twilight, she found, was terribly empty.  
_

**Word Count:** 625  
**Rating: **K+  
**Disclaimer:** Kanthia owns not.  
**Pairing: **Barely-there onesided Midna x Link.

**Kanthia notes: **Poor Link. He must have a lot to say by now.

**Mild spoilers for early Twilight Princess.**

x x x_  
_

_Let them run far into the distance  
Screaming with the love in their lungs  
When the King of Darkness rises  
Courage is the form of a still tongue_

"You know," she had once whispered, "Your people have a legend about a silly little fairy boy and your princess." They had been searching for Fused Shadows back then, a lifetime ago- "I've heard talk of it, anyways. 'When the King of Darkness comes, courage rises in the form of a still tongue'. Sounds like you, doesn't it?"

As always, he responded with nothing.

Satisfied with the weight of memory, she barely regarded Link as he hovered over the stewpot and returned to the book she had asked Link to 'acquire' for her from the Hyrule Castle Town Library- the literature of the world of light was interesting, to say the least.

She ran an impish finger down the leather cover of the book, old and neglected just like her world. Perhaps that is what drew her to it. She had noticed it out of the corner of shadow when Link was meandering around looking for books on cities in the sky; the owner refused to let the solemn hero look at it. He said it was a family treasure.

The next morning, Hyrule Castle Town was in quite a stir over the sightings of the divine beast and the mystery of the lost heirloom. Link had refused to look her in the eye for a long time after that. She swore it was the last time he would ever have to commit a crime for her.

It was a book as old as Hyrule, maybe, old and worn. The language was archaic enough that she recognized parts as being written in Tongue of Twili; perhaps, before everything went wrong, they were all one people.

x x x

_And for me, my wisest Princess  
Do not cry for Darkness sundered  
When silence is all he knows_

Link was different than the other people of the world of light. True, being the Divine Beast had changed him, but there were other things about him that gave her pause; the silence was one of them.

He had those large eyes that felt like they saw everything and ears that none could hide secrets from. His hands were rough and calloused but precise and gentle- his toes were evenly spaced, his skin creamy white, his face perfectly symmetrical. He was strangely beautiful for a being from the world of the Light.

It was his voice, though, that got to her- or rather his lack of voice. When she had first contacted him she had assumed his silence was the lack of training in the language of wolves. As time progressed, she had begun to realize that he was almost forced into silence. For some reason, words were always put into his mouth and he comfortably said nothing. She wondered if he ever had spoken.

The book she was reading was full of allusions to the stalwart hero she called a companion. It seemed as though him and his princess were constantly being reborn as some kind of cosmic practical joke; he was marked somewhere as the Bearer of Courage, and gifted with a stilted tongue.

It was too bad. She heard him speak the language of emotion when he fought- cries of anguish, shame, joy, feral pleasure of causing hurt. His voice was tantalizingly beautiful.

And as she watched him training, silent and courageous, she paused a moment to mourn- for the beautiful young boy whose voice, clear as the stars in summer, was silenced by the crushing weight of his own destiny.

x x x

_He shall not speak  
It is the burden of his courage  
To die alone  
_

* * *


	3. Link: Exhaustion

**This Burden of Exhaustion  
**_/Twilight, he found, was disconcertingly lovely._

**Word Count:** 532  
**Rating: **K+  
**Disclaimer:** Kanthia wishes she could make a Link Mii.  
**Pairing: **None.

**Kanthia notes:** Had this one sitting on the computer for ages. Well, what can you do.

**Mild spoilers for early Twilight Princess.**

x x x

He was…so tired.

He wasn't even sure if tired was the right word. He was long past being tired- he had stopped yawning and tearing in the corners of his eyes ages ago. This wasn't so much something he felt in his neck but an exhaustion- that's it, _exhaustion_- that he felt in his shoulders and chest.

Truth be told, he still couldn't fully comprehend why he was here. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was still Link the Ranch Hand who didn't understand how to connect with his lovely maiden Epona. Link the Farm Boy who let others speak for him and didn't know how to use a sword.

"You know," Midna once whispered, "Your people have a legend about a silly little fairy boy and your princess." He had been searching for Fused Shadows back then, a lifetime ago- "I've heard talk of it, anyways. 'When the King of Darkness comes, courage rises in the form of a still tongue'. Sounds like you, doesn't it?"

He had replied by wearily sipping the weak carrot and leek stew he had managed to concoct. His mouth longed for something more solid but all the meat he could afford was the fowl he had caught earlier- stringy and tough, hardly inviting at all. He found himself yearning for the odd stew he had shared in the Snowpeak Ruins. It was a rather strange combination of fish, cheese and pumpkin but a horribly sweet culling of home.

It showed on his body. He had grown ashamed of his naked chest; crisscrossed with scars punctuated by the occasional burn mark from fire and ice, bronzed by the sun but hollow and drawn across his tormented ribs. He had definitely lost too much weight since the day any semblance of a normal life was taken from him and he was given a legacy to uphold.

At the same time, not _all_ of him had evaporated. He had lost the shaded bulk of a rancher and grown into the tunic given to him by blessed Faron- when he had first opened his eyes with it on, it had been tight around his arms and chest. Now that he had grown precious inches and lost half his weight it was loose everywhere but it felt more like a second skin than anything.

The Mayor had barbells in the shed out behind his house. Back when he was still Link the Goat Herder, he used to train with them every morning at sunrise- squats for stability, press-ups for power- he was longer, leaner all over with a swordsman's chest and arms.

Nothing without a price; he had spent the last eternity searching for letters born in the sky. He felt so exhausted that it bordered on feeling terminally ill, like the next time he went to sleep he would never wake up. There was a terrible pain in his chest from the crest of twilight and a weight on his shoulders from the burden of destiny.

He wasn't sure how much longer he could handle it.

"It was felt by all those who came before you," the wind whispered. "When you're born as courage…it brands you forever."


End file.
